


Cheese Is Life (Everything Else is Details)

by ReaperWriter



Series: Tastes Like Home [1]
Category: The Old Guard (Comics), The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Acts of Service Nicolo di Genova, Food History, Gen, M/M, Nile and Nicky Bonding, Recipe in the Notes, Showing Love through Food, Slice of Life, nicky cooks, post-movie canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:34:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28236264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReaperWriter/pseuds/ReaperWriter
Summary: When Andy has a bad day, Nicky makes her a favorite food with help from Nile, and gives Nile a small window into food as team history.
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Series: Tastes Like Home [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2068458
Comments: 9
Kudos: 73





	Cheese Is Life (Everything Else is Details)

**Author's Note:**

> Because I am a giant damn food history nerd, this is PROBABLY going to end up as a series. Sorry/Not Sorry.
> 
> The food Nicky makes, Savory Toasted Cheese, is delicious. Check the end notes for the recipe.

The op hadn’t even gone particularly bad. They’d gotten in. They’d met the objective. They’d gotten out. Job well done.

But in the process, Andy had tripped, fallen, and scraped her knees on rough concrete and been in a pissed off mood all the way back to the safehouse. Joe and Nicky exchanged a look that implied one of their silent conversations. As soon as they all finished cleaning up, Joe tossed Nile the keys. “Drive Nicky to the store, please.”

“Oooookay.” Nile shrugged, grabbing her coat as Nicky picked up a couple of old canvas reusable bags and then followed him to the car. Once they were in the throw away sedan, she glanced at her older brother. “Thought we were stocked for groceries?”

“We have pantry food. We need fresh things.” Nicky sat comfortably in the passenger’s seat.

“And you can’t drive yourself because?”

“Andy says so. Only in emergencies.”

“Right then.”

At the nearest Lidl, Nile parked and followed Nicky’s lead into the store. He grabbed a few different vegetables and fruits, some yogurt and milk and eggs, a ton of butter and the making for a few pasta dishes Nile had seen him do before. Then he headed for the cheese section.

“Do you see anything labeled  Frischkäse?” Nicky asked as he picked up two different wedge cheeses and turned the labels over, reading them.

Nile started looking, coming up with options. “Um, three things. Two look like cottage cheese. One looks like American cream cheese.”

“The third one.” Nicky picked a wedge, grabbed two of it, and stuck them in the cart. “Grab two.”

“What are we making.”

“One of Andy’s favorites. We need to get some bread making supplies. And we need to stop at a halal butcher on the way home.”

An hour later, they arrived back at the house. Andy had disappeared into her room, likely to sleep off the mission or sulk over her scrapes. Joe sat on a battered old sofa, sketching away.

“Did you get everything?”

“Of course.” Nicky deviated on his way to the kitchen, brushing a kiss on Joe’s forehead. “I’m going to make the bread first. Then I’ll start it. We’ll do it for dinner.”

Nile followed him, helping him put things away, then watching as he quickly put together the ingredients for bread and set the dough aside to rise. “Is this one of your recipes?”

Nicky scoffed. “No. Modern American interpretations aside, where I grew up, we did very few things with so much cheese and butter.” He paused, and a shadow passed over his face. “We’ve mentioned  Quỳnh, haven’t we? Beyond just your dream?”

“Yeah.” Nile reached over and squeezed Nicky’s hand. It had been only one or two small stories, told outside Andy’s hearing. The pain of the loss on all of them seemed too immense to fathom.

“She was taken from us in England, and after Merrick.” Nicky paused, his hand gripping the dough whisk handle so tightly, Nile heard the wood of it creak. He shook himself. “England holds very few good memories for any of us. But this dish I am making. Andy says it is the only good thing to come out of England.”

“I thought British food was all boiled blandness or cultural appropriation?” Nile reached past Nicky to grab a clementine from the bowl he’d upended them in.

He snorted. “True, of their modern food. But they were more cosmopolitan once. This recipe came from a cookbook written by a man named Sir Kenelm Digby and published after his death in 1669. Joe bought me a copy when we passed through England on one of our attempts to hunt for Quỳnh again.” He smiled fondly toward the living room. “I made it for Andy one night to cheer her up, and she adored it. Now, when she has a bad day, if I can get the ingredients, I make it.”

“That’s really kind, Nicky.”

“That’s what family does.” He grinned at her. “Want to start cubing up the brie for me?”

Hours later, Andy emerged for dinner, still grumpy. On the table sat an old 1970s fondue pot with a candle under it keeping the contents warm, with chunks of fresh baked bread, broiled asparagus, roasted onion wedges, fresh apples, and lovely slices of roasted lamb.

Andy stopped dead before the table. “Nicky, is that?”

“Digby’s cheese.”

Andy sighed soft, her eyes a little wet. “It wasn’t that bad a day.”

Nicky just shrugged. “Looked like you needed it.”

Andy moved around the table, pulling him into a hug and gently cupping the back of his head. “Thank you.”

“Any time, boss.” He glanced over at Nile where she stood, pouring wine into glasses. “Nile helped.”

“Then thank you both.” Andy turned toward the living room. “Come on Joe. Let’s eat.”

Joe’s laugh and Andy’s smile warmed Nile’s heart just as much as Nicky’s pleased grin.

**Author's Note:**

> http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16441/16441-h/16441-h.htm
> 
> Digby p. 228/177  
> Cut pieces of quick, fat, rich, well tasted cheese, (as the best of Brye, Cheshire, &c. or sharp thick Cream-Cheese) into a dish of thick beaten melted Butter, that hath served for Sparages or the like, or pease, or other boiled Sallet, or ragout of meat, or gravy of Mutton: and, if you will, Chop some of the Asparages among it, or slices of Gambon of Bacon, or fresh-collops, or Onions, or Sibboulets, or Anchovis, and set all this to melt upon a Chafing-dish of Coals, and stir all well together, to Incorporate them; and when all is of an equal consistence, strew some gross White-Pepper on it, and eat it with tosts or crusts of White-bread. You may scorch it at the top with a hot Fire-Shovel.
> 
> Modern Recipe:  
> 1 part each:  
> Butter  
> Brie  
> Cream Cheese  
> White Pepper to Taste
> 
> I do this over medium low heat on the stove, or in a low heat crock pot. Melt your butter, then add the cubed up cheeses. Stir until combined (you will have a butter slick- just lean into it and soak up with some bread). You can- spread this on bread and toast it; treat it as fondue like Nicky; use it as a sauce on meat, veggies, or pasta; eat it with a spoon (don't judge). I sometimes add additional seasoning to mine, if I want to play. Last night was a hint of nutmeg and herbs de provenance. It reheats well.


End file.
